A Norwich Second World War RAF veteran and former Japanese Prisoner of War has died at the age of 102.
Rouse Voisey, born July 28, 1920, was the youngest of five brothers and grew up in Norwich.
He joined the RAF aged 17 in 1937 where he trained as an air fitter with the 151 Maintenance Unit.
It was during his wartime service he was captured and kept as a Japanese POW on the Indonesian island of Java and forced to work on projects including building a railway line.
Speaking of his service during his 100th birthday celebrations at The Warren Care Home in Wroxham Road, Sprowston in 2020, he said: "It was a matter of keeping yourself sane and doing what you were told. It was horrific.
"It was jolly hot work. You didn’t get any protective equipment and if you were naughty they [the Japanese] would break your knees on the railway line. It was character-building."
He was also one of the 700 survivors from the Japanese cargo ship Junyo Maru which was torpedoed on September 18, 1944 by British submarine HMS Tradewind, killing around 5,600 people.
After the attack Mr Voisey was left in the sea for 40 hours before being picked up by another Japanese boat and taken to the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where he and others were forced to build a railway for the next 18 months.
Following the war, Rouse returned to Norwich where his wife Doreen Webster on August 2, 1947.
The couple were married for 62 years until Doreen's death in 2010.
Although he and Doreen had no children, Rouse was an uncle to many.
He worked as a filing clerk for the Inland Revenue and also in waste disposal for Norfolk County Council after leaving the air force.
Rouse celebrated his 102nd birthday last July surrounded by family, friends and staff at The Warren - where he had been a resident for four years.
In September, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, he shared multiple cards sent to him from Her late Majesty.
Rouse died in December.
- To pay tribute to a loved one email donna-louise.bishop@newsquest.co.uk
- To read more obituaries and tributes join the Facebook group Norfolk's Loved & Lost.
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